The civic duty of the philosopher or of any of us; the abandonment of the sacred without renouncing the mystery of the world's existence; experiences of death in extreme situations such as the death penalty, suicide or euthanasia, bearing in mind that life is not sacred; animal rights as an extension of the rights humans claim for ourselves; the question of our identity as people; the problems of sexual identity when creating a family: these are the "pending issues" that form the subject of this book. They stimulate reflection that may lead to a greater understanding of the human condition, stressing individual responsibility, based on informed reason, as a key factor, as humans face a whole range of possibilities and have to chose.